A Chinese landlord was arrested on terror charges for renting out
his home to ethnic Uighurs, as the government continues to expand
its surveillance of members of the minority group.

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Police in central China's Henan province arrested a Han Chinese
man who had privately rented out his home in Zhenping
county to three Uighur bread-sellers, according to a notice
released by the Zhenping county police obtained by
Radio Free Asia.

Police were tipped off about the living arrangement. The
landlord was later arrested.

"This act is identified as a violation of Article 91 of the
Counter-Terrorism Law of the People's Republic of China," the
notice said of the incident that occurred earlier this month.

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The three Uighur men were urged to quickly return to their
homes in the autonomous Xinjiang region in northern China, home
to over 11 million mostly-Muslim Uighur residents.

The landlord was arrested as a counter-terror measure under
the country's counter-terrorism law, which took effect in early
2016. The law punishes "refusal to cooperate" with agencies
enforcing precautionary measures against what the country deems
threats of terror, and carries a fine of $290 to $1,400 and up to
15 days in jail.

And while the law makes no mention of prohibitions against
renting property to Uighurs, the minority group is often racially
profiled, and is subjected to some of the
world's strictest surveillance measures.

China restricts Uighur movements

caption

Uighur security personnel patrol near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in Xinjiang.

source

Associated Press/Ng Han Guan

The government has been closely monitoring the movements of the
minority group, and the group regularly faces restrictions based
on their ethnicity.

According to the World Uyghur
Congress, a rights organization comprised of exiled
Uighurs, the group is regularly banned from staying at hotels or
other forms of accommodation.

During the 19th Party Congress, where members of the
Communist Party meet in Beijing to elect delegates, Uighurs were
forbidden from staying in the capital due to "security concerns,"
WUC said, and at least one hotel in southern province of
Guangdong
was fined for hosting a Muslim Uighur guest.

Uighurs were
similarly banned in 2002, and Uighurs have previously been
placed on security watch lists when they try to check into hotels
in major cities during intensified security periods.

And it's not only their movements inside the country that are
heavily surveilled.

Earlier this month, a UN panel said it was "deeply concerned" by
China's arbitrary detention of up to 1 million Uighurs in
detention centers called "re-education camps." But China
continues to deny the existence of these camps, despite growing
witness testimony and
surveillance footage of the centers.